It was a calm, clear and frosty morning today as we headed out to our deerstands at 6:15 A.M. A bowhunter couldn't have asked for a more perfect morning. Mr. Johnson and I parted ways at our usual spot with a kiss and good luck wishes. We were both happy that we got to our stands without disturbing any deer bedded down in the woods or nearby cornfield. The sound of leaves falling from the trees resembled the sound of footsteps so you had to listen really close to decide whether it was a leaf, mouse, squirrel, or maybe a deer walking around in the woods.
Around 7:15 I heard Mr. Johnson's voice on the walkie-talkie telling me he had gotten a deer. He waited until he didn't hear any more noise of the running deer, then gathered up all his hunting paraphernalia and climbed down from his ladder stand to start searching. About 15 minutes later he reported to me that he had found the deer--a big fat doe. This deer will do a good job of filling up a shelf or two in our freezer.
Around 7:15 I heard Mr. Johnson's voice on the walkie-talkie telling me he had gotten a deer. He waited until he didn't hear any more noise of the running deer, then gathered up all his hunting paraphernalia and climbed down from his ladder stand to start searching. About 15 minutes later he reported to me that he had found the deer--a big fat doe. This deer will do a good job of filling up a shelf or two in our freezer.
Good Job Mr. Johnson!
18 comments:
Congrats Mr. J!!!
I'll be down for the venison roast party!
That's a mighty fine looking deer. Hope she is tender. Can we come for some vension steaks? {HINT-HINT] Keep looking for that buck. About how many pounds did she field dress at? Good job Rick!
Dad & MOM Kaun
Whoot! Yay, Mr. J!
Bring on the deer stew!
Wow! What a nice looking doe! Some nice winter meals coming up.
Congratulations, Mr Johnson! Ruthie, tell us city folks what you do with the deer after killing it. I assume you have to do some prep work there out in the field before taking it to a ?butcher? -- and I'm also assuming it has to hang for a while before freezing it?
Hi Ruthie!
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
How weird is it that people didn't sign up for this swap?! I thouuuught it was a great idea.
But now I'm excited to be receiving a gift from you! all is forgiven ;)
Wow - my hubby would be envious!
Hi Lynne,
I think we were down to our last 3 roasts from last year's deer so I'm glad he got another one.
Hi Mom,
How many steaks do you want? Didn't see any bucks on Saturday, but I'm sure they'll start showing up more frequently in the next couple weeks or so.
We didn't have her weighed, but judging by how hard it was for me to drag her, I'd guess about 400 lbs! Good thing Mr. Johnson is a lot stronger than me.
Thanks Susan. I've got lots of yummy venison recipes.
Thanks Cindy. We get meat for the freezer and there's one less deer for someone to hit with their car. (I hate seeing them dead alongside the road.)
Hi Mary C,
After the deer is killed, the really hard work begins. It has to be field dressed (all the insides removed). You wouldn't have to do this out where you shoot it, but it's better to leave the mess there (crows, coyotes, and other critters clean up the guts within 48 hours). Plus field dressing removes some of the additional weight--especially if you have a ways to drag the deer (like we did). Once we get it dragged back to the car, it has to be registered with the DNR. Then we take it home and wash it out with water to remove any remaining "guts" and also rinse away as much blood as possible. Then we take it to the processor where it will hang in his refrigerated garage until he has a chance to cut it up. He didn't have any other deer hanging when we dropped this one off, so he will probably be able to cut it up today or tomorrow and we should have the frozen meat by the middle of the week. Lots of people around here process their own deer, but we don't have the facilities or expertise to do it ourselves, so it's much easier for us to pay an expert to do it and get it done right--without wasting any of the meat.
Hi Herci,
I sure thought it was a good idea too. Oh well....at least we'll get to swap something.
Thanks Shelley. Bowhunting is pretty much what Mr. Johnson lives for and he was happy to fill his first bonus tag with this nice doe.
Poor Bambi doesn't have a mother anymore.
Congratulations, Mr. Johnson. Looks like a nice size doe.
Ruthie, do you do the butchering yourselves. We always did. We found it so much better tasting to take out all the bones. Yum, yum!
Congratulations, Mr. Johnson. (I just made a venison stew for supper last night.)
Way to go Mr Johnson.
Not to worry Richard, Bambi's big enough to make it on her own now.
Hi Debbie,
We don't have the set-up to do our own butchering, so we have it processed locally. He de-bones everything, grinds up the hamburger, and wraps everything all up in neat little packages for us.
Thanks Jennifer & Lisa. I'm looking forward to trying out some new venison recipes now too.
Mr. Johnson, congratulations! She's lovely. Enjoy your dinners and steamy stew on cold, cold nights!
I am glad the hunt was successful. I know you both respect life and would rather eat your venison than a burger from MCD's.
Good going! We've seen some nice bucks but nothing close enough for a shot. My 14 year old had a close doe but she was with her fawn.
Thanks Mary. I have a really great recipe for venison roast made in the crock pot with coca-cola, cream of mushroom soup and Lipton onion soup mix. It's our fave with dumplings on the side!
Hi Ruth,
You're right--it is better and since we're still meat eaters, it's good for us to know where our meat's coming from and how it was processed.
Thanks Windyridge. This big doe Mr. Johnson got was with another doe--no fawns in sight, so he thinks they were already on their own. I couldn't take a doe with a fawn following either!
Bambie! LOL! Just Kidding! Honest! Congratulations to Mr. Johnson. Enjoy your deer meat!
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